Freedom.

If there is one thing I wish I could tell the entire population of nonbelievers in this world right now, it would be that there is nothing but blessed freedom in Jesus Christ. I know that when His name is mentioned, people often start envisioning this checklist of "dos" and "don'ts," a bunch of obligations that will weigh them down and prevent them from "living." But that's just the thing. We are all enslaved to something or other. You, right where you sit at this very moment, are a slave to either sin or to Christ, to this world or the one to come. You are either living to please yourself, or you are living to glorify the God who created you and who sustains you even as you read this blog post. Which is it? Where are you tonight?

If you're uncertain what you believe about God, or are feeling the weight of guilt or shame, know that I've been there. I've lived in secret shame. I've felt so distanced from God that I began to question His existence. I've felt the emptiness that comes from "living," living the way the world says we ought to. It's all, as the author of Ecclesiastes laments, futile. All of it. As I've already said, you're either living to satisfy your fleeting, sinful desires, or you're dying to those and laying them aside (forcefully, sometimes - most times, actually) to follow the One who gave up His very life and defeated death itself so that you might really, truly live.

I wish there were adequate words to convey how beautiful King Jesus has become to me in these last three years since He reached into my life and turned it around. I have certainly had my fair share of struggles since then, but I cannot begin to explain the difference between struggling with Jesus and struggling without Him. He is my joy, He is my peace, He is my strength, He is my song, He is my rock, He is my love. He's my righteousness, He's my redeemer, He's my prince, He's my life. Nothing this world can offer will ever, ever compare to Him. What a treasure He is. I am fervently praying, dear reader, that you will understand this for yourself and experience His unending love, boundless mercy, and amazing grace in your life. When He sets you free from the things of this world, you have freedom like no other - freedom to live in Christ.